adventures in the kin trade

Text Widget

This is a text widget, which allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. You can use them to display text, links, images, HTML, or a combination of these. Edit them in the Widget section of the Customizer.

sailmaker

The first HOPPER in the Filey Census is widowed fisherman Timothy, age 75 and heading a King Street household in 1841containing five people I have classified as boarders/lodgers – four members of a WILLIS family and a widow, Fanny MORGAN. In 1861, Bridlington born Robert Hopper, sailmaker, is living in Hope Street with his wife Annie Elizabeth, three children and Annie’s sister Susan “BERRYMAN”. In Filey Genealogy & Connections there is a gathering of Patrington Hoppers. The connection of these folk to Filey isn’t immediately clear but their descendants increased greatly and scattered. You can follow them, some to the United States (in the 21st century) on FamilySearch Tree, starting from William and Mary Ann née FEWSON.

There is only one Hopper remembered in St Oswald’s churchyard but the first headstone of 2019 to which I’ve turned my attention has seen me dancing around other Hoppers for much of the day.

Thomas Holmes JOHNSON doesn’t appear to have representation on FST, neither does his father, or grandfather Frederick HOPPER. Frederick, a fisherman and lifeboatman, was born in Hull but enumerated in Easington in 1861 so I’m expecting to connect him to the Patrington branch. If I am to tag the above headstone photo on FST I will probably need to bring a large troupe of Hoppers together on the World Tree. It may take some time.

(Until this afternoon I didn’t know that you really fish WITH hoppers. It is a variety of dry fly that bamboozles trout.)

Out at Sea

Four big lights on Alfa Italia cut through the murk late this afternoon. Sarpen and Thornbury remain at anchor in Bridlington Bay and a few miles further south two more tankers, Delta Star and Baltic Favour are awaiting orders. When I checked Ship AIS at lunchtime I noticed Happy Pelican was making good speed to Grangemouth and had to smile, its filthy cargo of LPG notwithstanding.

Down Under

Radio NZ reported yesterday that 2018 was the hottest year since New Zealand records began.

Veteran climate scientist Jim Salinger has calculated the mean annual land surface temperature in 2018 was 13.5 degrees Celsius, which was 0.85C above the 1981-2010 average.

This was “a smidgeon” hotter than the previous warmest year on record, 2016, which was 0.84C above normal.

January, March, July and December were all at least 1C above normal, with January being a massive 3.2C above average, the hottest month ever.

Overall, the country has heated up by 1.3C since records began in 1867, Prof Salinger said.

I checked the Wellington International temperature data downloaded from Weather Underground and found that the capital’s 2018 was the hottest of the last ten years, and just 0.05°C warmer than 2016. A smidgeon. The Wellington average annual temperature was, as you might expect, higher than the national figure, at 14.25°C. Auckland would no doubt be warmer still, and Invercargill cooler. What will 2019 be like?